


don't listen to a word i say

by craftingdead



Series: charlie will make cd a common tag if it kills them [20]
Category: The Crafting Dead
Genre: Gen, Nightmares, Psychological Horror, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 17:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16330322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craftingdead/pseuds/craftingdead
Summary: Shelby's (almost) alone and she shouldn't be.





	don't listen to a word i say

**Author's Note:**

> HEY Y'ALL MY COMPUTER BROKE AS FUCK SO I CAN BARELY UPDATE!
> 
> little talks - of monsters and men

She pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. The car passed over a dip in the dirt road and jolted violently. It was dangerous, straining the seatbelt like that, but she still did it. The bandages across her knees were coming loose. She picked at them, imagining Nick cringing as she did so. It only inspired her to continue doing it, getting a non-existent reaction from him. Beside her was, in fact, Nick. He was folded up in a similar manner to herself, back pressed to her side.

The car was moving slowly. Isaak was being careful, cautious of the “precious cargo” in the back seat. Anika would have his hide if anything was to happen to the two of them.

Rain was pouring outside, dripping across the window. The very same rain had plastered her hair to her face, the normally bouncy curls limp against her face and back. It was also responsible for the mud splattered across her shoes, socks, and rolled-up overalls: it mirrored the mud across Nick’s shorts and bare, brown legs.

It was practically a hurricane out there - Isaak kept muttering phrases under his breath that she couldn’t quite make out, but sounded inappropriate either way. The rain continued to pound against the windshield, obscuring their vision; the car, straining against the wind, was steadily running out of gas. Isaak was encouraging the car to go a little further, just a few more miles. Mud ran the tires tired, making horrible noises in the process.

All she wanted was to get home. Next to her, Nick stirred, waking from the near-coma he’d been in.

“Mornin’,” she murmured. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes wildly, before settling and turning his gaze to the rain. Groaning, he leaned back against her head, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing, annoyed. “I know, I know, it’s been hours.”

“If you hadn’t gone after him, we would’ve been warm and safe at home,” he said, annoyed.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. It was true, but she wouldn’t be the one to admit it. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “If I hadn’t done it, he might’ve… y’know. Pulled the same stuff as last time. The stuff that got him expelled,” she responded, squeezing back. Her brother’s hand was cold.

Nick rolled his eyes, mimicking her earlier action, and swung his legs over hers. “He couldn’t pull that again. He’d get - he’d get in even more trouble. The f-first incident nearly landed him in a cell. He’s lucky his parents love him that much. Besides - I’m not scared of him! Let him try!”

He tried to sound brave, but his voice cracked and strained and he sounded less like some brave hero and more like the scared fourteen-year-old he’d been a year earlier, on the night of the incident. She wrapped an arm around his neck and tried to stifle a forced snort in his collarbone, reassuring him that yes, of course, you are the bravest person on earth and not scared at all. They were pulling the seat belt to its limits, but neither scared. “I’m serious! L-let him do worse! I’m not scared, I’m not,” he protested, his voice veering dangerously close into whining territory.

“Sure you aren’t,” she said. “And pigs fly.”

“And you’re a sucky sister.”

“And you’re an arrogant p-”

“And you two arguing won’t help any of us! Y’know, all three of us, the third of which is getting terribly annoyed of your two’s muttering back there. I may be ‘old man’ but I’m not deaf yet,” Isaak yelled from the front seat, a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

She and Nick responded with a, “Sorry, Dad,” in unison, trying not to giggle as they looked at him, having taken their little “argument” in the wrong way. Isaak had mud tangled in his hair, muttering the mud splattered across his children. Together, they looked like dumb, dumber, and dumbest. The Three Stooges of mud and family relationships and pretending to be dignified when they were just as guilty as the rest. It runs in the family.

“It’s fine, you two.” He sighed, loosening his grip on the wheel, hiding a smile behind the mud dripping down his cheek. “I’m just… I’m just very tired, especially with what’s been going on recently.” The smile broke through. The least serious family on earth. The bags underneath his eyes betrayed nothing.

Nick smiled back. She didn’t feel like it right then. Burying her head further into her brother’s chest, she said, “When are we gonna be home.”

The smile fell from Isaak’s face. “Right to the point, I see,” he muttered. “I… I… kiddo, I don’t know. It could be minutes or it could be hours. You two were very, very, very far into the woods. Like, extremely far. Why did you even have to go that far in.”

“Because we wanted to,” Nick said, bluntly.

“What he said,” she added on.

“We thought it would be fun-”

“-and so we did it. Because we totally thought it would be fun.” The lie spilled out like a waterfall from her mouth.

Isaak pinched the bridge of his nose with a muddy hand. “That - that ‘twin speaking’ stuff always creeps me out, god,” he said. “And I’m pretty sure that there’s something or several somethings that you two aren’t exactly telling me, but I won’t press it. Y’know, like a decent parent who understands that their kids don’t want to tell them everything. Anika and Sky, however, not being as cool as me, might press the issue. So… watch out for that, I guess.”

“Alright, ‘cool dad.’” It was so quiet she didn’t know if it came from her or her brother. The car went silent. Laying against his chest, she could feel Nick’s steady breathing; it made her eyes droop as the heat in the car was cranked up, Isaak muttering about how cold it was. Sticks cracked underneath the weight of tires; thunder cracked through the sky, pelting rain onto their car roof.

The car gave out one last pathetic sputter, inching forwards a few more feet, before shuddering and coming to a full stop, the tires slowing against the mud.

“Damn it!” Isaak yelled, slamming his hand against the steering wheel. “C’mon, just a bit further! I feel dumb for talking to you like a child but I _know_ you can make it. Just a bit further, buddy, please!”

“What’s going on?” Nick sat up, shaking her from his chest. She shook the sleep from her head and looked towards Isaak, head tilted in the same, wondering way that Nick’s was.

“The car decided to finally give out! After all these miles, now it decided to shut down on me. Just great.” Isaak unbuckled his seat belt and pushed the door open, allowing the flood of rain to spray inside. A drop hit her shin and she leered back, Nick’s legs getting tangled with her own as they fought to stay away from the ambush. “And I think a tire’s busted! Great, wow, I absolutely love when this happens. Especially when we’re in the middle of the woods.”

She snickered to herself. Nick, over the rain, called, “Where are you going, Dad?”

That. Was a very good question she didn’t even think to ask. And to believe she had been a mere second away from falling asleep on her brother. “Yeah, Dad, where ya going?” she said.

“To try and find a good signal. We’re stuck out here without one. And unless you two wanna come out in the rain and mud with me, you’re staying right where you are in the car. Got it?” Upon the look she and Nick shared, he said again, “Got it?”

Curly red hair; a height neither of them could reach, and narrowed brown eyes glared down through the window on the side of her. They, reluctantly, nodded. Isaak sighed in relief. “Alright. Either of you disobeys that, I _will_ know and I _will_ ground you for a week. It’s dangerous out here.”

He disappeared into the rain. The sky outside was gray, barely lighting up the road enough for them to see him leave. A flashlight clicked on and swept through the dark just in time for them to see Isaak navigating his way down the slippery road ahead of them. Her heart sped up and Nick’s breathing became heavier as he disappeared completely. They were mature but also… it was really dark and they had no way to contact anyone other than going outside and screaming in the middle of the woods so _excuse me_ but who wouldn’t be even a little bit scared.

A branch cracked against the side of the car and both of them jumped. “Oh my god,” she whisper-laughed in response to it dragging across the window before falling to the ground. Nick was colorless as a sheet, looking like he’d just seen a ghost. “C'mon, Nico, it’s just a branch. It can’t be that scary.”

“You jumped too,” he muttered.

“I jumped too,” she agreed and unbuckled her seat belt to pull him closer, her heart still racing. “At least I can admit I was scared.”

“You wouldn’t admit it to anyone else.”

She ignored him. The words were truer than anything she’d told to anyone besides Nick. They spilled like water for them, it burned like fire for him.

In that car, waiting for her father to get back, she couldn’t tell where she ended and where he began. If an ax murderer came, they wouldn’t get out, too tangled up. She wouldn’t care. If there was anyone she’d have to die with, it would be Nick. Siblings in blood, together ‘till the end. That’s how it was. That’s how it’s always been, since the years alone to the years with Dad. Isaak. Whatever you called him.

Nick’s hand traced circles on her back. His scarf rubbed against her face. The mud was uncomfortable on both of them but the car was too warm and too welcoming to bother with that. A branch cracked outside.

Both of their heads shot up. “What the…” she said, voice trailing off.

“Think that’s Dad?” Nick asked, voice quivering. He didn’t believe it, from the tone of his voice, but wanted reassurance just to make sure that yeah, we both aren’t getting murdered today. Unless Isaak was a secret assassin, of course.

She pulled away from him and reached towards the door. He pulled her closer by the arm, a fearful look in his eyes. “I’m just making sure.” Nick blinked in disbelief. “I promise. I’ll come back if it’s nothing. Just making sure.” It burned like a lie but spoke like a truth.

“You’ll soak through.”

“I’m already soaked through.” She laughed and spread her arms, gesturing to the pattern of mud across her body. “Can’t get any worse than this.”

Nick sat back and crossed his arms. “I suppose,” he grumbled. “If you get killed by an ax murderer I’m going to live with Jesper.”

“I’m sure he would love that.”

She pulled the handle forwards and pushed the door open with her leg, bracing a hand to stop it from swinging shut on her. The rain was already soaking through her clothes, as Nick said it would.

The sky was dark. She could barely see three feet in front of her with the pounding rain and thunder whose noise spiked a headache in her temples. Wrapping her arms around her small frame to stop the shaking that bordered between fear and the cold rain hitting her bare arms, she squinted out into the darkness, taking a few steps forward. Her feet sank into the muddy ground, deep enough to prove an annoyance whenever she tried to walk but not deep enough to render her stuck outside in the wind.

Another few steps forward and when she turned, she could barely see the car. Just the faint shape of a window and Nick’s face pressed against it, brows creased in worry. She flashed a thumbs-up with one arm still wrapped around her own waist and forced a reassuring smile.

Behind her, a branch snapped and she whipped her head around. Her neck hurt like nobody’s business as she searched desperately for a source to the noise, backing away best she could with the sinking ground.

“Dad? That you?” she called out, like every cheap horror movie character to ever exist. The wind answered back, howling loudly and blowing her previously-plastered hair back. A leaf sailed through the air and got tangled in it, scratching her face. “Dad, if this is a joke, it isn’t funny! I’m serious, you’re making me look like an idiot.”

Nick slammed his fist against the window and gestured her back. She turned away from the strange noises and started making her way back to the car. She… she couldn’t have gone that far, right? She only took a few steps away from it. There was no way she could’ve gotten this far away without realizing it. Nick looked panicked and it was all she could do not to look behind her, imagining all sorts of creatures creeping behind her.

“ _C’mon! Get back in, idiot! You’re going to freeze to death_ ,” he yelled through the glass, voice cracking and words stuttered out. The car was so far away. She couldn’t move her legs, watching helplessly as he cocked his head in confusion.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t yell, couldn’t blink as the ground beneath her rumbled. The trees swayed and groaned and the wind screamed. Underneath her the mud started to sink forward, spilling out into a hole she couldn’t see. She couldn’t see Nick’s face in the window - she could barely see the car as it was. Slowly, a horrified expression stretching across her face, the car sank lower and lower before it fell completely, disappearing into the ground as water and mud and ground bowed from the force of some unseen enemy.

“ _Nick_!”

She woke up, sweat dripping down her body. A choked sob escaped her mouth and she couldn’t stop her arms from shaking and her body shuddering as she propped herself up with her arms. The room was cold, the only thing both lighting it up and providing the barest trace of heat was a small fire in the middle of it. Uni hovered over it, poking the dying flames with a stick and rubbing his eye with a fist.

Across from him, Ghetto was fast asleep, facing the wall with his dark hair swept to the side, exposing an even darker neck. Their bags were lined up on that wall, three backpacks slumping against each other. The big green one for Ghetto, the smaller blue one for Uni, and the smallest, a faded red, for her.

She twirled a finger around the scarf on her neck. The fabric was soft against her hand.

“You good?” Uni said, finally noticing her awake. His long legs were folded awkwardly as he gave up with the stick, instead opting to dump his box of “flammable materials” onto it. The phrase was written across it in big, sharpie letters. The fire roared and jumped upward, finally bringing warmth to the damp room they were huddled up in.

“Yeah,” she said, shuddering. There was her, Ghetto, and Uni in the room. Only the three of them. No one else. “I’m fine.”

“Whatever you say.” Uni went back to poking at the fire as it started to die down, scowling. She closed her eyes, forcing the tears away and opened them to Ghetto rolling over and looking at the two of them.

“What are you idiots doing.”

“Trying to start a fire,” Uni responded with a match in hand and a wild look in his eyes. She was made a mental note to never let Uni handle any type of fires after this.

“Please don’t burn down the place,” Ghetto mumbled, before flipping back over and pulling a jacket over his body.

She pressed a hand to her face and groaned. “Uni, if you burn down this place I’m going to murder you.”

“Someone didn’t get enough sleep.”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you both,” Ghetto grumbled from where he was trying to sleep. Uni casually waved him away, wiping the tension-fueled from tiredness, crankiness, and general annoyance at their situation from the air with one hand.

An old song and dance with the three of them, trekking across the country with nothing but themselves and the occasional supplies, when they didn’t lose their packs to an overflowing river, Uni. She had adjusted, but it was still weird, being forced into a room with the two of them. It was weird, not being with the one other person that mattered most. It was weird, waking up to the grumble and yawns of two folks she’d barely known before now. It was weird, not waking up with someone pressed to her side and sighing gently in his sleep. It was weird.

“You sure you okay?” Uni said, again. She could hear him get up and his footsteps inch closer to where she was laying. The crumple of a jacket from across signaled Ghetto looking towards them, again.

Another old song and dance. With their strong “hatred” of each other came the occasional worried glance, falling asleep in a pile because they were all too scared to sleep alone and be taken in the night.

“I’m. Fine,” she responded, voice cracking. There were tears in her eyes and the memory of a car stuck in a muddy patch turned into a horrible nightmare twisting through her head. Her mouth burned.

Silence fell over the room. Uni’s footsteps went away and Ghetto flipped back to face the wall. Resuming their previous positions. A hot tear ran down her cheek and splattered onto the ground. And, under her breath, quiet enough so that no one in the room could hear besides herself, Shelby whispered, “I miss my brother.”

The wind heard. And it howled in response.


End file.
